New Unit of Inquiry

This past week we started our provocations into the new unit of inquiry. With this art-focused unit, Ms. Dana (Art Teacher) and Ms. Leigh (Music and Drama Teacher) will be collaborating with us. 

The enduring understanding that we aim to reach through this inquiry is that Art is a medium that allows people to share what they know, learn and believe. 

To begin the inquiry the EY2 children were taken into the bedrooms of children around the world through a series of photographs by James Mollison. http://jamesmollison.com/books/where-children-sleep/ As a grade level, all the children gathered in the music room for the viewing. 

 Here are some of the images they discussed.

Guiding questions were used to prompt the student's thinking and the teachers scribed their responses. Some interesting examples were:

• "the bed is missing."
• "There's no couch."
• "It's really really messy."
• "I don't see that next to my house."
• "I've seen it before; it's close to the mall."
• "It's not clean, but my house is super super clean"

Viewing these photos was a first step towards helping the children see how images communicate, and we can read pictures to learn. 

These particular photos are also lending themselves well for classroom discussions about things we think we need and things we want. 

In the classroom, we used the first image to begin looking at perspective using the compass points strategy as a visible thinking tool. 

N = Needs, E = Excitement, S = Suggestions, and W = Worries

Here are some of the childrens' responses:

Needs: 

He needs a telephone (Shayaan) and a bed (Sohyun). 

He needs a table. (I prompted. why?)- To put the telephone on. Antoine

He needs an iPad (Valerie)

Worries:

He might worry about the couch, (Antoine)

... about the bedroom, (Gabe)

... about the broken roof (Ivy)

He doesn't have a bed. (Chinsiv)

If it rains.... get wet (Anna), he might cough (Lang Lang), and the water will go in the house (Ken) and everything will get wet (Ivy).

Excited:

He would be excited about a door, a roof, a clock and a wall (Ivy).

...and an iPad (Valerie)

Needless to say, images communicate and are a great basis for conversations that lead us to think and learn. As teachers, however, we are mindful that learning is not a race and we all do it differently. As as a result, we must be respectful of difference and very careful to plan differentiated activities and reflections.

Next week we look forward to exploring more art. 

Have a great weekend!